The Houston Texans: The World Might End Tomorrow but Deshaun Watson is Our Quarterback So That’s Good News

When receiving good news and bad news, it’s always better to get your bad news first. So let’s get right to it. Last week it was leaked that Texans team owner Bob McNair said in a closed NFL owners meeting, “We can’t have the inmates running the prison.”

Given the cultural climate and divide of the NFL at present, players league-wide took immediate offense to McNair’s statement as his words made light of the very real reasons behind the protests. His flippant comment made a mockery of the protest that Colin Kaepernick began in order to shed light on “a history of systematic oppression and police brutality against Black people and people of color.”

It must be noted that McNair got the idiom completely wrong. The correct idiom is: “The inmates are running the asylum..” which was made popular by the 1920 cult film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Facts are important. Regardless of that, his words of choice were “We can’t have the inmates running the prison.” This begs the question….who exactly are the inmates?…and what is this prison you speak of? Incorrect idiom or not, McNair made the Freudian slip of the year.

It was almost as if McNair wanted to uphold the Texas tradition of being problematic. His comment was eerily similar to that of the Cowboys former president Tex Schramm who once told union chief Gene Upshaw, “You guys are cattle and we’re the ranchers, and ranchers can always get more cattle.”

McNair “apologized” to the Texans players and to this day insists he was making an observation about the relationship between NFL owners and league office employees. Nobody bought that.
Pro Bowl wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins was a no-show at Friday’s practice before the Seattle Seahawks matchup. ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeted out, “Texans players wanted to walk out today in response to owner Bob McNair’s comments, per @sarahbarshop. Had to be persuaded to stay.” Schefter went on to say, “Bill O’Brien, GM Rick Smith and Asst. HC Romeo Crennel then led a 90-minute team meeting in which players were given a platform to speak out.” Schefter ultimately called this an “organizational crisis.”

Problematic Cowboys owner Jerry Jones came to his buddy McNair’s defense. Yes, that Jerry Jones. Jones inserting himself in this situation is supremely misguided.

According to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, Texans (former) offensive tackle Duane Brown thought McNair’s comments were “horrible”…“disrespectful and ignorant”…yet he was “not surprised by it.”

The majority of the Texans knelt in “protest” prior to the Seahawks game. It should also be mentioned that a number of the Texans players wanted to participate in the league wide Kaepernick inspired protests, but remained neutral out of “respect” for McNair.

The Texans lost to the Seattle Seahawks 38-41, but oh, did they put up a fight. Watson threw 4 touchdown passes on Sunday. After seven career games, Watson has 19 touchdown passes and has broken the record that was previously held by Kurt Warner.

How good is Deshaun Watson? Well, it took Russell Wilson recording his first 400+ yard passing game in his career to beat Watson. After the game, Wilson told the media, the Rookie of the Year discussion is done. “Deshaun Watson is special. I mean go ahead and give him Rookie of the Year. He is a great player. I love watching him,” he said. “He was so good today, so special. I told him on the field, ‘God is good. Keep putting the hard work in. It’ll keep showing.’”
Wilson wasn’t the only fan Watson made that day. Richard Sherman also came away from the game impressed with Watson’s performance telling reporters after the game that after playing

against Watson he now knows how other players feel about trying to defend Wilson. He also told the media what he said to the rookie during their embrace, “You played the best game any quarterback has ever played against us, and we’ve played all the legends. I respect how you hung in there and kept battling and battling.”

Watson finished the game 19-of-30 for 402 yards and 3 interceptions, including a first-quarter pick-six.